Food Talks Volume 10

group speakers

Food Talks Vol 10 Speakers (from left to right) Tim Pawsey, Michaela Morris, Michele Boufard, John Clerides, Sid Cross and David Schoelfield.

On December 3rd we presented the tenth event in this Food Talks series which featured 5 inspiring speakers from our community who spoke about themselves and a different wine related topic.

van urban winery

mingling

The evening began as guests mingled over wine from the host location Vancouver Urban Winery.

Representatives from three wine related organizations then spoke about their organization giving everyone an over view as to their role in the wine community.

mark hicken

Mark Hicken

Modernize Wine Association of British Columbia 

masa

Masa Shiroki

Artisan SakeMaker

dave stansfield

David Stansfield

Fresh Tap and Vancouver Urban Winery

 

Our Speakers Line-up:

 sid cross

SID CROSS

Topic: “The 6 best wine types already proven most successful for BC” (or why I love BC chenin blanc, riesling, white blends, pinot noir, cab franc, and syrah)!

david schoelfield

DAVID SCHOLEFIELD

Topic: ‘Place not  Grape: Defining Okanagan terroir’.

house wine girls

MICHELLE BOUFFARD and MICHAELA MORRIS 

Topic: “You don’t have to be rich to start a wine cellar’’

tim pawsey

TIM PAWSEY 

Topic: Drinking Outside the Box … Why Vancouver is forever in the Okanagan’s debt

john clerides

 JOHN CLERIDES 

Topic: Nuturing & Developing a Wine Culture in BC

speakers 2 in q and a

There was a Q & A following the speakers which Richard Wolak moderated and guests had a chance to ask questions and engage with the speakers.

View all of the speakers presentations and the Q & A here which were filmed by Geoff Peters.

Thank you to Dianne Chow for taking the photos  (see more photos), as well as our Videographer Geoff Peters, and our volunteer Caro.

By: Richard Wolak

Food Talks Vol 10, December 3

This is the tenth event in this Food Talks series! Come join us to meet and mingle with other foodies, and to hear some enlightening speakers from the wine community.

Food Talks goes WINE Talks for this edition! Our speakers will touch on all aspects of the wine industry including British Columbia and beyond. Each of the speakers will speak on their own wine topic (see below). You will also have a chance to learn from some industry supporting organizations.

Our Speakers Line-up:

 sid-cross-image_1st-choice

SID cROSS

Sid Cross is the Honorary President globally for The International Wine & Food Society and does a weekly posting on their site (blog.iwfs.org). Sid is an enthusiastic speaker who judges many wine and food competitions including The Lieutenant Governor’s Awards For Excellence in British Columbia Wines & The Canadian Culinary Championships. He is the only Canadian inducted as a Membre d’Honneur of the Academie du Vin de Bordeaux and to be awarded The Gourmet of the Year by The Society of Bacchus America “for outstanding knowledge of food and wines and for imparting this knowledge to others”. Sid is an Officier de l’Ordre du Merite Agricole awarded by the French Government. Follow him @winefoodguru.

Topic: “The 6 best wine types already proven most successful for BC” (or why I love BC chenin blanc, riesling, white blends, pinot noir, cab franc, and syrah)!

david s

DAVID SCHOLEFIELD

Few in the wine industry need an introduction to David Scholefield. His personality, experience, and profound global insight to the wine industry, in addition to his sharp wit and expert palate, make him a valued member of the Okanagan Crush Pad team. David was the inspiration for the Okanagan Crush Pad business model, which he first envisioned over ten years ago.

David’s devotion to wine sustained him throughout his long career as senior wine buyer for the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB), where he earned a global reputation for his ability to shepherd allocations of the world’s finest wines onto the shelves of BC liquor stores. It was during his many buying trips to wine regions around the world that he was first introduced to the concept of a cooperative wine production facility. The light bulb turned on while on a visit to New Zealand in the early 1990s when he discovered several of the top producers were making their wine from the same facility. David is an ambassador for Okanagan Crush Pad, and the “S” in the winery’s Bartier Scholefield label.

When he does not have his nose in a glass of wine, David can be found stomping through fields tracking birds or lurking around music shops and book stores in Vancouver. You can follow here @TrialtoBC

Topic: ‘Place not  Grape: Defining Okanagan terroir’.

Michelle-Bouffard-Headshot

MICHELLE BOUFFARD 

Michelle grew up in Québec where she studied classical trumpet and performed, taught and conducted music. She moved to Vancouver in 1996 to finish her bachelor’s degree in classical music and learn English. While serving in fine dining restaurants, she took an introductory wine course, which proved to be a revelation. In 2003, she completed her International Sommelier Diploma with top marks and worked as the resident sommelier at Marquis Wine Cellars. She went on to complete the internationally recognized Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s (WSET) Diploma Programme in 2007 with her first year funded by a scholarship awarded by the Vancouver Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier. Today Michelle is an instructor for the International Sommelier Guild and is a regular guest on French CBC radio. She speaks fluent French and English. Her defining wine moment was having her soother dipped in Champagne at Baptism but she also fully admits that she often cheats on wine with a delicious beer.

Michelle plays an active role in the wine community, sitting on expert panels for Cornucopia, the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival and the Vancouver Magazine wine awards. Her wine travels have led her to the regions of Burgundy, the South of France, Abruzzo, Piedmont, Tuscany, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Napa, Sonoma, Washington, Oregon and the Okanagan. Co-Founder of House Wine, you can follow here @housewine_girls

Topic: “You don’t have to be rich to start a wine cellar’’

mm

MICHAELA MORRIS 

Michaela spent most of her youth determined to become an actress but a modeling stint in Japan fuelled her desire to travel. She spent several years cycle touring and working her way around Europe before earning a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and French from the University of British Columbia. A one year exchange program led her back to France where she discovered the region of Burgundy and decided to pursue a career in the wine industry. After a five-year tenure at Marquis Wine Cellars, Michaela went on to become the Marketing/Logistics Manager for Liquid Art Fine Wines, a premium-only wine importing company. Michaela was awarded a scholarship by the Vancouver Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier for the internationally recognized Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s (WSET) Diploma Programme.  She successfully completed her diploma in 2005 and today she is a guest lecturer for the programme. She is fluent in both English and French and continues learning Spanish and Italian. Michaela’s guilty pleasure is lobbing off Champagne corks with a sabre and she has a weakness for anything that sparkles.

A familiar face in the wine scene, Michaela has participated in tasting panels for Les Chevaliers des Vins de France, Cornucopia and the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. She has traveled extensively throughout the wine regions of Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Rhône Valley, Abruzzo, Piedmont, Sardegna, Sicily, Tuscany, Val d’Aosta, Napa, Central Coast, Argentina, New Zealand and the Okanagan. Co-Founder of House Wine, you can follow here @housewine_girls

Topic: “You don’t have to be rich to start a wine cellar’’

Tim Pawsey

TIM PAWSEY 

Tim has been covering the food and wine revolution for about 20 kilos. Count 15 kg alone thanks to the blossoming cuisine and wine culture of British Columbia, Canada.

Tim’s hallmark is seeking out and recommending value wines from BC and around the world that offer quality at every level. He also scopes out noteworthy restaurants that live up to their promises—and often over deliver. Readers depend on the Hired Belly for his “Belly’s Best” and “Belly’s Budget Best” picks to help them find the right wine for the occasion.

He writes, tweets and shoots his own images for columns in the Vancouver Courier and North Shore News. He also contributes to WHERE Vancouver magazine, as well as to several other publications. They include Taste magazine, Tidings Magazine, and Montecristo. His columns are frequently picked up by major newspapers across Canada.

Tim is a frequent judge for wine competitions, such as Vancouver Magazine International Wine Awards. He is a founding judge of The BC Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Excellence in Wine. He is frequently invited to judge at The BC Wine Awards, and others.

Tim has traveled to taste in many of the world’s leading wine regions, most recently in Burgundy, Argentina and Chile. You can follow him @hiredBelly

Topic: Drinking Outside the Box … Why Vancouver is forever in the Okanagan’s debt

john c

 JOHN CLERIDES 

John was raised listening to stories about his father’s childhood in a Cypriot mountainside village. He heard about how his grandfather looked after his family of nine by raising an assortment of animals, and by growing their own fruits and vegetables. His grandfather also tended their vines and made wine, along with their local moonshine which was nothing less than racing fuel. The seeds were planted for his curiosity about food and wine.

In 1977 his career began like any other good Greek Canadian, in the family restaurant. Ten years in the restaurant business gave John a strong foundation for working with people and listening to his customers. Painfully aware of the frustrations locals had by the limited selection of wines and indifferent service, John jumped at the opportunity to open Marquis Wine Cellars in 1986. Inspired by speaking with many of his seasoned wine friends and his readings John’s quest for knowledge began.

John has travelled extensively though Australia, Washington, Oregon, California, Italy, Spain, France and Austria, sourcing unique, flavourful, undiscovered wines. Even after 25 years his quest for discovery remains unabated. You will most likely find John in either one of three places, at Marquis Wine Cellars assisting his clients, in a vineyard or cellar somewhere in the wine world, or his most preferred location: at the local ice rink playing hockey. You can follow here @MarquisWineCell

Topic: Nuturing & Developing a Wine Culture in BC

Watch videos of past food talks here.

If you haven’t been to our previous Food Talks events, Novus TV featured our Vol 3 on City Lights (view here).

You will also have a chance to learn about some organizations that lead the way in the wine industry.

modernize

Modernize Wine Association of British Columbia is a registered non-profit society that advocates for a modern food and wine culture in B.C.

FreshTAP is a premium packaging company that provides wineries and licensees a cost-effective, hassle free and reliable way to join the rapidly expanding Wine-On-Tap market in stainless steel kegs.

Established in 2007 on Granville Island, Artisan SakeMaker is known as a unique commercial winery that produces award winning, hand-made, small batch and fresh sake. Our brand name “OSAKE” is widely recognized as “Canada’s first locally produced fresh premium sake” and its popularity has reached across the country and beyond.

Location: Vancouver Urban Winery

The Evening: Each guest will receive a tasting glass of Vancouver Urban Winery’s wine. Enjoy a wonderful line-up of speakers who will talk about themselves and their passion related to the wine community.  There will be a Q & A where you will have a chance to ask questions and engage with the speakers along with a draw for prizes (A selection of wines from their Wine on Tap line-up will be available for purchase).

Buy Tickets via Eventbrite:

https://foodtalksvolume10.eventbrite.ca/

Advance Tickets: $20 per person before November 30

Regular Tickets: $25 per person after November 30 and at the door

Note: Eventbrite fee and gst is extra on all tickets purchased online.

Note: Limited tickets available. Note: ALL Tickets must be purchased in advance online. All ticket sales are final. No exchanges or refunds; however you are welcome to transfer the ticket to another person for the same event if you notify us in advance with name (s) of who will be attending in your place. Event produced by CMI Chat Media Inc.

Location & Wine Sponsor

van urban winery

Video Sponsor

Food Talks Volume 4

Food Talks Vol 4 Speakers (from left to right) Pete Schouten, Douglas, Emad Yacoub, Steve Thorp, Mike Macquisten and Greg Hook (in the front row) – Shannon Bosa-Yacoub and Lesley Stowe (photo by Dianne Chow)

On October 23rd we presented the fourth Food Talks Vancouver event that featured a selection of  inspirational speakers from our food community.

Boxes of Indian Salmon Candy & Broccoli slaw

Indian Salmon Candy & Broccoli slaw

Endive ……

Leeann Froese of OK Crush Pad Wine

The evening started off with guests mingling over a glass of Ok Crush Pad wine inside the Vancouver Urban Winery. Guests were treated to delicious canapés prepared by Chef Julian Bond and his talented crew of student chefs from the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.

Our 5 Speakers:

Lesley Stowe of Lesley Stowe Fine Foods

Greg Hook of Chocolate Arts

Mike Macquisten and Steve Thorp of Vancouver Urban Winery

Emad Yacoub and Shannon Bosa-Yacoub of Glowbal Group Restaurants

Pete Schouten of Hardbite Potato Chips

Braden Douglas of Hardbite Potato Chips

Then there were prizes to be won as we held our draw prize giveaway.

Kent Houston (L) of Lets Patch & Helen Stortini (R) of Growing Chefs

One of the drawprizes was a Patch Planter to grow herbs/veggies.

Chocolate Treats Box from Chocolate Arts

Chocolate Arts provided the creative box of chocolate treats for everyone to take home at the end of the evening. Hardbite Potato Chips handed our bags of their different flavours of chips to guests as well.

Panel of Speakers during the Q & A

Thank you to Dianne Chow for taking the photos, as well as our Videographer Geoff Peters, and our volunteers Tyler Yee and his family.

By: Richard Wolak

Food Talks Volume 4, October 23

This is the fourth event in this Food Talks series! Come join us to meet and mingle with other foodies, and to hear some enlightening speakers from the food community.

Our Speakers Line-up:

Emad Yacoub and Shannon Bosa-Yacoub

emad

Proprietors – Glowbal Group Restaurants

Emad is no stranger to the kitchen. He spent the early years of his career honing his craft as Executive Chef in several celebrated Toronto restaurants. Later, he was the driving force behind the re-invigoration of Vancouver’s Joe Fortes. It was at Fortes that Emad met his future wife, Shannon, who was managing that restaurant’s busy dining room at the time, while Emad worked away as Executive Chef in the high-volume kitchen.

After spending several years in B.C.’s restaurant industry, Emad and Shannon decided it was time to make their own move – to realize their own vision of what a restaurant could be. Toronto’s Solo on Yonge St. and Brownstone Bistro were their first successes. Emad’s culinary mastery and Shannon’s vast experience with public relations and management led them to rave reviews in Toronto’s restaurant scene.

Today, the GLOWBAL COLLECTION is comprised of eight restaurants: glowbal grill steaks & satay, COAST Restaurant, Italian Kitchen, Trattoria Italian Kitchen, SOCIETY, Black+Blue, two IK2GO locations; and two lounges: AFTERglow and O Lounge. A ninth restaurant will open on Granville Street (in the former Sanafir location), along with the city’s largest patio at Black+Blue, later this fall.

Steve Thorp and Mike Macquisten 

Steve Thorp and Mike Macquisten

Steve Thorp and Mike Macquisten co-founded the Vancouver Urban Winery in 2012. The 7,700 square foot urban winery is the first of its kind in Vancouver and also operates as a unique special events space. The winery features 36 wine taps at the tasting bar where consumers can learn about British Columbia wines, and the exploding wine-on-tap category. Alongside the tasting bar sits a boutique wine shop full of local items, wine merchandise, artisan foods and beverage and plenty of wine! The winery manufactures, packages, imports and distributes wine for multiple brands. The operations of FreshTAP, which specialize in packaging quality wines in stainless steel kegs for the emerging wine-on-tap category takes place within the Vancouver Urban Winery.

Greg Hook

Greg Hook

Greg Hook is recognized as one of Vancouver’s earliest gourmet chocolatiers. After studying cooking in London, England and the intricacies of chocolate at Callebaut College in Belgium and the Ecole du Grand Chocolat in France, Greg Hook opened his Kitsilano shop Chocolate Arts in 1989. To this day, Chocolate Arts is devoted to creating unique chocolate products emphasizing local and organically grown ingredients. At the shop, small batches of artisanal chocolates are created each day using the best raw chocolate from producers in Belgium and France, many of which are single origin chocolates. Fillings never include colourings, additives, or artificial flavours and all purees, concentrates, essences, most dried fruits and flavoured alcohols are house-made. Natural west coast flavours like wild blackberries, raspberries, cranberries, blueberries, hazelnuts and pears are some of delicious temptations found at Chocolate Art.

Lesley Stowe

Lesley Stowe

Lesley Stowe is a Parisian-trained chef who began her own catering company more than 20 years ago in Vancouver. Frustrated by the lack of specialty foods in the city, she opened lesley stowe fine foods, offering customers a wide-range and global selection of cheeses, vinegars, oils, breads, house-made entrees, dips, preserves, desserts and hard-to-find grocery items. In 1990, Lesley started selling her delectable dessert creations to the city’s top restaurants and became known for her decadent “Death By Chocolate” confection. The store’s success, combined with Lesley’s ability to predict and capitalize on food trends resulted in the creation of raincoast crisps – a revolutionary snack food beyond compare.

The author of her own cookbook, the lesley stowe fine foods cookbook, Lesley has also contributed to other popular cookbooks including The Girls Who Dish series.

Pete Schouten 

Pete

Co-Owner Hardbite Potato Chips 

Pete Schouten has been in the farming industry for as long as he can remember. Born in Cloverdale, BC, Pete grew up surrounded by the province’s natural beauty and a local culture focused on clean living through healthy lifestyle choices. In 1993, Pete saw an opportunity to invest into Heppell’s Potato Corp. With years of experience under his belt, he developed a plan for the company. After presenting it to the bank and the Heppell family, his passion won them all over, which eventually lead to the third generation farming family to transfer half of the company into Pete’s care.

Pete’s future plans for Heppell’s Farms and Hardbite will take the companies to a national level. He plans to have a nationwide presence that will provide local produce and goods everywhere. His dream is to have a farm in each province with national marketing as well as purchasing power, creating a unique and efficient value chain from the field to the customer, developing a knowledge network of information to connect the customers to the growers.

We’re not only farmers, we’re artists, scientists and big time outdoor enthusiasts. As fourth generation potato farmers, we know it takes more than just potatoes to produce the perfect chip. That’s why our homegrown potatoes are just one element of the Hardbite Chip formula. Our passion for quality, innovation and using only the most wholesome, natural ingredients is our recipe for creating chips you’ll not only enjoy, but chips you’ll feel good about eating.

Braden Douglas

Braden

Co-Owner Hardbite Potato Chips 

Braden Douglas is a seasoned marketer who has fused a service-focused approach with strategic creative thinking to form the backbone of Relevention Marketing Inc. – an innovative full service, results-based marketing agency located in the Lower Mainland’s city in the country; Abbotsford, BC.

Hailing from the small town of Fonthill, Ontario (just 20-minutes outside of Niagara Falls), Braden attended Wilfred Laurier University where he received a degree in Business and Economics. It was during his time at university that Braden discovered his natural intuitions and passion for marketing, leading him to become the youngest person hired in the marketing departments at both Procter and Gamble and Frito Lay. In 2004, after enriching stints at these two brand giants, Braden’s personal faith and vision to revolutionize non-profit marketing inspired him to found the Marketing and Communications department at one of Canada’s most recognized non-profit ministries, Power to Change, formerly Campus Crusade for Christ, Canada.

In 2007, prompted by a desire to enable companies and organizations to achieve unprecedented growth, Braden resigned from his position as director of Marketing and Communications at Power to Change to follow a dream. In September 2007, Relevention Marketing Inc., a company dedicated to providing strategic marketing plans, creative solutions and practical advice to medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations, opened its doors for business.

If you haven’t been to our previous Food Talks events, Novus TV featured our last event on City Lights (view here).

The Evening: Enjoy tasty appetizers in the winery followed by a wonderful line-up of speakers inside who will talk about themselves and their passion related to the food community.  There will be a Q & A where you will have a chance to ask questions and engage with the speakers. Each guest will receive a tasting glass of wine, there will also be a draw for prizes and to finish off the evening you will take home a sweet Treat.

Growing Chefs is our designated charity, support their wonderful organization that educates children on the food community in the public schools.

Tickets:

$30 per person before October 21st

$50 for a 2 person group (save $10 when purchasing 2 tickets) before October 21st

$100 for a 5 person group  (save $50 when purchasing 5 tickets) before October 22nd

* $40 per person after October 21st online and at the door.

* Eventbrite fee is extra on all tickets.

Ticket price includes appetizers and a glass of wine, along with a sweet treat in addition to hearing from some great speakers, a Q & A follows.  A donation of $3 from each ticket purchased will go to support Growing Chefs.

Buy Tickets via Eventbrite:

http://foodtalksvolume4.eventbrite.com/

Charity Partner

Location Sponsor

van urban winery

Appetizers Sponsor 

TBA

Wine Sponsor 

ok

Treats Sponsor

choc arts

Video Sponsor

Note: Limited tickets available. All ticket sales are final. No exchanges or refunds; however they are transferrable with printed proof of ticket. ALL Tickets must be purchased in advance online. Event produced by CMI Chat Media Inc